My Daughter's Chilling Account of Years at Holocaust Museum
On Wednesday, as the fatal shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C. unfolded, I couldn't help recalling that my daughter, Jeni Mitchell, just out of college, worked at the museum during its start-up, in 1992, through its 1993 opening, and two years after that. I also remembered that she had told me, long ago, about some of the scary threats she and others received just for working there, and the extraordinary security measures (little publicized) that they had to take. Of course, I forgot most of the details.
Fortunately, moved and upset by the tragic attack by a racist, anti-Semite, she wrote me from London -- where she's getting her Ph.D. -- last night, reflecting on her experience at the museum back in the 1990s.
Here's some of what she sent along:
The entire time I worked there, we always expected something terrible to happen. I was very lucky it didn't while I was there -- but it wasn't for lack of trying. Our head of security was a former FBI guy and he said we would not believe the volume of threats.
While the museum was being built, we were told that neighboring buildings were enhancing their security and protection in anticipation that the Museum would be a target for violent extremists, possibly even blown up.When we opened, each of us working there received a 'security kit.' This was to supplement our in-person briefings. The kit contained instructions on what to do in the case of a bombing, an evacuation, receiving a bomb threat, etc.
The kit also included a piece of paper stapled to a stick; the paper screamed in bold letters, 'I'M GETTING A BOMB THREAT!' The idea was that if I were to receive an actual bomb threat, I should keep the guy on the line, stand on my chair and wave this sign around frantically until someone noticed.
One time, I was talking to this very nice woman in NYC on the phone, when our evacuation alarm went off. It was right behind my desk so I gave a little scream. I was pretty sure it was a drill, so I shouted into the phone 'I'll have to call you back,' but I couldn't be heard over the noise.
Off we went for our evacuation drill. Half an hour later I returned to my desk and called the woman back. It turns out that in the interim, she had called everyone she knew in New York to tell them the holocaust museum had been blown up. Whoops.
I actually received death threats. Personally, addressed to me at my office. Written in cramped, sociopathic handwriting, pages and pages of nonsense. I turned them over to security and didn't worry about it (who would bother to kill the schedule coordinator?) but it was chilling.
Also: Long before 9/11 we were well-versed in the procedures for unattended items. Several times we had to evacuate the main exhibit when lone bags were found (although thankfully they were false alarms). But I always felt that the people in the cloak room had the most worrisome job in the building.
A couple months ago, when there was that big controversy over the Department of Homeland Security report on potential right-wing terrorism, I could NOT believe that it was somehow controversial. Working at the Holocaust Museum in the first years of the Clinton administration was like having a front-row seat to right-wing hate groups. They are a peculiar American pathology, and they are not going anywhere.
I am really just heartbroken that after all these years, such terrible violence happened at a place dedicated to peaceful coexistence, nonviolence, mutual understanding, etc. And I am furious that an octogenarian nutcase can kill an innocent person.
Why do people keep working at places that are under threat? Because they're so important, and because we love working there. I never met a person who went through the whole museum who wasn't deeply, deeply affected by it. That makes all the craziness worthwhile.
Yes, there were people who hated us. They might act upon it; but what can you do? Run away? No. A small number of people wished us ill. A huge number of people were enduringly affected by their visit. There was no contest.
My co-workers there were immensely talented, intelligent, funny, brave and audacious. Many of them still work there, and I can only imagine what they are going through right now. Do they still think it's worth the risk to work there? I'm going to guess the answer is yes.
I never knew Stephen Johns, but he sounds like many of the security officers I knew then - friendly, helpful, always alert but unfailingly polite. I can't help but think that when he saw that old man coming toward the door, he thought: Here's a survivor, or a veteran, someone to be treated with special respect.
Anyway, sorry to ramble, I'm just pretty upset about this, and feeling mournful that the price to be paid for an Obama presidency seems to be an epidemic of well-armed lunatics."
To visit Jeni Mitchell's blog, the Crime-Conflict Nexus, go via this link.
Greg Mitchell's latest book is "Why Obama Won." He is editor of Editor & Publisher. Email: gmitchell@editorandpubliisher.com
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You know, it occurred to me that identifying hate groups as right wing or left wing is really not relevant. A hate group is a hate group, period. I don't really care what their seminal politics are, it is just pure insanity to demonize any group of people and then go after them like that is going to solve all of your problems. It's not some harmless expression of political beliefs, it is intimidation and threats regardless of which "side" it emerges from.
Excellent point. I think people always want to blame the other side. If you're "left", you want to blame the "right". Our two party system has polarized us so much we're like two people in a bitter divorce. It's easy to lose track of reason in a situation like that.
You make an excellent point, and I hope all who comment here consider it thoughtfully.
We have had well armed lunatics for quite some time now, and they have committed many heinous crimes (or have we forgotten?)....the problem is that now, we have lunatics in large megachurches and monolithic radio programs whipping up hate, calling for armed force and other actions, and that is currently the pink elephant in the room- while we have other articles currently in the media "wondering" whether there is a connection between the hate violence and the hate mongering spokesmen and women who lead them.
Your daughter's writing is so revealing and thoughtful. I am grateful for her insight and experience; thank you for sharing it.
"right-wing hate groups. They are a peculiar American pathology, and they are not going anywhere." Not as long as Hannity, Limbaugh, and the rest of the stooges on the right keep feeding them. The only difference between them and Al Qaeda is that this country has always managed to restrain the evilness.
"Working at the Holo caust Museum in the first years of the Clinton administration was like having a front-row seat to right-wing hate groups. They are a peculiar American pathology, and they are not going anywhere."
Pathology is right. Cancer would be more appropriate. These h ate-filled right-wing nut jobs are out to destroy the country they claim to love. The only thing they love is war, tor ture and hate. Oh, and Jesus, too.
"Working at the Holocaust Museum in the first years of the Clinton administration was like having a front-row seat to right-wing hate groups. They are a peculiar American pathology, and they are not going anywhere."
Pathology is right. Cancer would be more appropriate. These hate-filled right-win nutjobs are out to destroy the country they claim to love. The only thing they love is war, torture and hate. Oh, and Jesus, too.
Wow. Crazy. I had no idea. I used to get those same sort of psycho letters with the cramped strange hand-writing because I am a chemist and the writers assumed I was an evolutionary biologist and all who believe in evolution are evil. I finally turned them and some other hate mail in to the post office and the chair of our local democratic party mentioned to the local republican chair that my mail was being investigated. I haven't gotten a hate letter since. The best way to deal with this sort of hate is to let people see it out in the bright light of day. Thank you for this post!
Why would a reasonable person assume that this is not the whole story?
The Holocaust deniers seem to be a special subset of of extremist conservative who believe that saying a lie loud enough and long enough -- e.g., Iraq has WMD, Saddam Hussein had connections to al Qaeda, etc. -- that makes it true.
This seemed the right place to post something I just found out about 4 minutes ago via an email from my sister. Turns out my uncle, who himself died in Auschwitz, was a classmate of Anne Frank's. Recent Dutch documentary on her life plainly showed a class list with his name on it. Imagine thinking you've heard it all and then learn something new. Anyhow, next holocaust denier is free to message me.
For some reason, this attack REALLY gets to me, and I don't know why.
It reminds me of the Tiller shooting. I'm totally areligious, but somehow I was/am extra disturbed by its taking place in a church. Somehow, that hurt me, personally. I was truly, truly SHOCKED. And it's the same with this. It's bad enough on its face, but somehow I'm extra-bothered by the fact that it took place in the national Holocaust museum. To do violence-- there-- I guess I actually DIDN'T expect that. Not to overstate it, but it strikes me as a... hallowed place. Or something.
And it's like, duh. Obviously, that's what MAKES it a target.
Yet I continue to be shocked and... pained. So much so that I realized (to my surprise/shame) that I've been actively avoiding news about this. I find I just can't look directly at it; I can only nibble at the edges with stories like this.
When the media begins treating the crimes of SOME HATE as more heinous than other hate - we have a big problem.
Actually 2% of the country is the problem in this regard.
You can say that again.
But 2% of the 300,000,000 people in the country means millions of problematic people.
I too, was deeply moved after going through the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC. After going through several others I found this one was exceptional. It has pained me to hear of such threats and see them actually played out with loss of life.
It is time we shut down our own home grown terrorist groups.
Lesson; Let nobody think, even for a moment, that their livelihood or way of life is only guaranteed by goodwill and human decency.
Every peoples' way of live must be vigilantly watched and guarded - by above all their own.
After Auschwitz, Babi Yar, Rwanda, Cambodia, Darfur ... what more is to be endured!
And plenty before that, as well.
Zaire. Tanzania, Taiping, Aleutians, and many more.
Could I just mention Bhopal here? When one considers what's being done to the atmosphere of the entire Earth, makes you wonder who the real lunatic fringe is.
Don‘t forget Vietnam, Cambodia under Nixon/Kissinger, Laos, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Argentina, Grenada, Iraq, Palestine...
And Ireland and Armenia. It's real insanity.
The Holocaust deniers are a peculiarly insane lot. They deny this verifiable extermination took place, but they are all for another one.
Thanks for the thoughtful letter. I have never visited the museum, but I had students who did, and it had a powerful, beneficial effect on them.
Yes, thanks for the thoughtful letter. I was really feeling it until I read...
"the price to be paid for an Obama presidency seems to be an epidemic of well-armed lunatics".
Is an Obama presidency really to blame here? Surely, there were as many well-armed lunatics out there long before Obama was ever thought of.
and where is the "epidemic" -- a few nut cases out of 300 million population hardly constitutes an epidemic. Methinks the Left is guilty of ignorant fear-mongering here.
Can someone explain to me what Jewish Holocaust deniers hope to accomplish? The thought occurred to me that the primary lesson of the museum is to never forget the concerted evil that can be perpetrated on a particular people by organized government action and a willing populace. So if there is no Jewish Holocaust is that lesson lost? What about the treatment of Native Americans and African slaves. The slaughters by the colonial powers. The Turks and the Armenians. The Soviets treatment of its own people in the years before World War II. The German treatment of the Poles, Ukranians, and Russians in World War II. The Soviet's treatment of the Germans in the final months of World War II. Humanity's capacity for evil is on display for all to see. I understand that the Jewish Holocaust was evil at its worst., but even if it didn't happen, can the deniers sleep better knowing how far humanity has risen? Sorry for the rant.....
I'm afraid that they aren't interested in denying human evil, but in promoting anti-Semitism.
That's right. To them, Jews are less than human, so the Jewish holocaust sort of doesn't count. (The line of thinking is: it never happened; but if it did, they had it coming.)
To deny to holocaust is to deny our own potential to commit genocide. We hold the responsibility to make sure this never happens again. To deny it never happens mean we do not hold the responsibility to keep it from happening again because it never happened. Thus, it opens the door for a historical repetition. To deny the holocaust is to deny our own potential for evil, and not take responsibility for our actions.
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